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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28276290">your ivy grows and now i’m covered in you</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/delorange/pseuds/delorange'>delorange</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Designated Survivor (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Protective Aaron, Sad Emily, i suppose it’s kinda au?, idk maybe just if tom had a normal presidency, same like political setting as s1 tho, seth and potus appear briefly</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 01:53:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,389</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28276290</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/delorange/pseuds/delorange</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>emily’s having a bad day. aaron notices.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Emily Rhodes/Aaron Shore</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>your ivy grows and now i’m covered in you</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>girl i was shocked to see less than 100 fics of these two. i shipped them literally so from the first ep and i mean i’m still in the first season so it might not be completely canonically accurate but i think it’s my best writing yet</p><p>title is ivy by taylor swift</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Aaron doesn’t know Emily all that well. Past her post-disaster acceleration engagement that wasn’t, he knows nothing of her personal life, her hobbies, her interests. And that’s okay - they’re colleagues, they don’t need to know every single detail about each other. It doesn’t mean Aaron doesn’t want to, but that’s beside the point. </p><p>However, he does know her well enough to know that something is seriously wrong when she gets into work that morning. Her eyes are red and puffy, ringed by heavy bags and carrying a distant air he’s never seen on her before. It’s not a good look, and Emily always looks good. There’s a pain in his chest at the sight of her. </p><p>She doesn’t greet him as she comes into his office. She tries to, she tries to smile and hold her head up high, but all her bravado falls away almost the instant the door is shut behind her. She remains silent, hanging up her coat and nestling her bag underneath it. Then she stands in front of his desk like an intern awaiting orders. “What’s on the agenda?”</p><p>It’s utterly unsettling. “Emily, are you-”</p><p>“What did the President decide to do about the situation in Guatemala? I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night but I didn’t really have time for the TV.” He tries to catch her eye, but suddenly she finds the ground really interesting.</p><p>The phone rings, and they both jump. A very drab voice informs him that the President is ready for them, them being himself, Emily, and Seth, to discuss the next phase of the plan for dealing with Guatemala. </p><p>He sighs. He doesn’t want to move on, ignore whatever it is that’s going on, but they both have jobs to do. He tells himself he’ll find her later, let her know that he’s here for her. </p><p>“POTUS wants us.”</p><p>“Let’s go.” He walks ever so slightly behind her, only taking his eyes off her face to make sure his fist lands on Seth’s door forcefully enough to get him out of his pit. She’s glued to her phone, reading about the public address the President made last night, getting up to speed. He’s really worried about her, and this time it’s not in the least bit difficult to admit. </p><p>Seth, on the opposite end of the scale, is unusually happy, but even he can’t crack a smile from Emily. </p><p>Her complete 180° the second they step into the Oval Office is frightening. She’s forced a smile now, and he thinks the President and Seth, anyone, really, would believe it. She’s a tremendous actress. She snaps into action. “Good morning, sir. Your speech was excellent.”</p><p>President Kirkman looks unconvinced. A disagreement over an investigation into a Guatemalan official had escalated, despite both Aaron and Emily’s best efforts, to the point of Guatemala using missiles to shoot down a US military plane, and the President had made a public address despite now two ongoing investigations. </p><p>“What are the headlines?” Poor man looks almost as awful as Emily. </p><p>Seth clears his throat. “Incompetence, idiocy, irritability... nothing you haven’t overcome before, Mr President.”</p><p>It’s fair to say he got a little agitated on live television yesterday, which is obviously unbecoming for the President of the free world, but Aaron and Seth worked tirelessly last night to try and keep the country from going into a tailspin. Their efforts weren’t in vain: Seth is right, it’s nothing the President hasn’t faced and beaten before. Still, a huge pain in Aaron’s ass. </p><p>The President takes a shaky breath, and straightens up, presidential mask clicking into place. “Seth, do whatever you can to mellow the press. Emily, I want you chasing up the FBI, I want you on their case and reporting back every hour.” Wow. Maybe that’s where Emily learned it from. </p><p>Seth excuses himself, and Aaron shoots Emily a concerned glance. “I’d like to join her, Mr President, if that’s okay. I’ll be back before your meeting with Hookstraten, but there’s an agent I’d like to speak to regarding a lead.”</p><p>Emily’s head turns ever so slightly he’s surprised he even noticed. But, then again, it’s like all his dials are finely tuned to Emily. Every cell in his body is hypersensitive to her every move, a fact that can hinder as well as help. </p><p>“That’s fine, Aaron. I cannot embarrass myself in front of my country again. I want answers.” On that powerful note, they leave the Oval Office and return to Aaron’s. Emily doesn’t say a word, and she sniffles once, but once is enough. </p><p>As soon as he’s sure they’re alone, he pulls her against his chest. He slides one arm around her waist and rests the other hand on the back of her head, anchoring her to him and he waits for the fight, for the resistance, but receives none. She rises onto her toes and wraps her arms around his neck, and makes a kind of strangled hiccup noise that tears through Aaron like a bullet.</p><p>He holds her while she trembles. He has never seen her fall apart like this, and it terrifies him so much that he knows he’d stand here forever, keeping her together in his arms.</p><p>He holds her until she staggers back, swiping furiously at her eyes and pushing hair out of her face. “We should get going, we should, ah-” Her rambling is soft, and lacking the urgency the words would suggest. She actually looks like she’d rather not move at all. </p><p>There’s another sob, and he steps in, probably a little too close for normal but this is not normal. Her head falls to the side, letting her hair shield her face, and he doesn’t know if he’s crossing a line when he reaches out and gently touches his fingers to her chin.</p><p>“Hey, Em, look at me, Em,” he murmurs, and she does so, only for Aaron to almost wish she hadn’t, for his own sake. </p><p>If there’s one thing Aaron hates, it’s the unknown. The unknown only causes problems, especially in a job as politically weighted as White House Chief of Staff. The unknown is a field full of land mines, information that can and will be dredged up years after the occasion to sink a whole ship. </p><p>This is unknown territory. The only Emily he knows is strong, smart, with a healthy dose of conniving that almost pipped him to the post he’d already deputied for a year, and certainly not vulnerable. Yet here she is, sobbing in his office, and he doesn’t know how to handle it but goddammit if he isn’t going to try his very best. </p><p>He stares into her eyes, swimming with tears that can’t replace her usual sparkle no matter how hard they try. “I don’t know what happened last night, but I need you to know that I am here for you. You can talk to me, whatever’s going on, I am here for you.”</p><p>“Thank you.” The words fall brokenly from her lips in a whisper he wouldn’t have heard if they were even an inch further away. Now he’s thinking about distance, he realises how close they actually are. He can feel her ragged breath on his lips, and it’s a second type of physical pain inflicted on him by Emily Rhodes.</p><p>He swipes his thumb over her jawline just once, and releases her, turning away before he does something he regrets. “Aaron, I-” He turns back to her and she looks like she wrestles with herself for a moment. Then she slips her hand into his. “Is this okay?”</p><p>He tightens the grip. “Of course, yeah, anything you need, Em, anything at all.” He gives her a heavy look that confirms he means his every word. </p><p>For the first time, her lips curl into a small, but genuine smile. “Em?”</p><p>“You don’t like it?” He thinks the way her grin grows answers that question. His smirk grows too. “Shut up then.”</p><p>They stand there smiling at each other like idiots for at least a minute. Then he grabs Emily’s coat from the hanger and holds it out for her to put on. “Come on, we have some FBI agents to kick up the ass.”</p><p>“That we do.” Their hands don’t unlink until the office door swings open.</p>
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